The Michigan Wolverines are still looking to get over the hump under Jim Harbaugh, and perhaps their 2019 early signing day class can help achieve that.
For much of the 2018 college football season, it appeared that the Michigan Wolverines were destined to finally get under the hump under Jim Harbaugh. They seemed in line to be the best team in the Big Ten and, perhaps, that would parlay them into a College Football Playoff berth. Instead, they again lost to Ohio State under Harbaugh and came up short, leaving them to again look to the future.
Where the Wolverines are currently beating their rivals from Columbus, though, is on the recruiting trail. Entering the early signing day period, Harbaugh’s program has the ninth-best recruiting class in the country for 2019, but the best class in the Big Ten. Both marks are strong improvements from last year, for what it’s worth.
Interestingly enough, the Wolverines have such a strong class while not having any 5-star prospects heading to Ann Arbor. Having said that, Michigan does still have two top-50 players in the 2019 recruiting class coming their way. Harbaugh landed running back Zach Charbonnet (No. 42 overall, No. 3 at the position) from Westlake Village, CA in addition to defensive tackle Chris Hinton (No. 49 overall, No. 5 at position) of Norcross, GA. Both should be huge additions to the Wolverines program.
In the early signing day period, Michigan doesn’t figure to be a huge factor, but there is one big name to watch. The No. 4 overall prospect and top-ranked strongside defensive end in the country, Zach Harrison, appears likely to head to Ohio State, but Michigan has been pushing for him. If they could somehow come up and nab him, that would be a massive get for the Wolverines.
With the dust settled, let’s look at the Michigan 2019 early signing day class:
There’s no doubt that Harbaugh has brought in a plethora of talent to Ann Arbor throughout his tenure. That should again be the case with this class, but he’ll still need to further develop these guys to get over the hump as he’s been trying to do since arriving at Michigan.